This is a CiviCRM extension required for the CiviContact mobile application for iOS and Android. Find out more about about CiviContact at civicontact.com.au
This extension must be installed in CiviCRM for the CiviContact mobile application to function.
The CiviContact mobile application is available for both Android and iOS on Google Play and Apple App Store.
CiviContact source code is available on https://github.com/agileware/au.com.agileware.civicontact
- Download the CiviContactAPI extension.
- Install the CiviContact extension to the CiviCRM extensions directory to a new civicontact sub-directory
- Enable the CiviContact extension in CiviCRM on the Extensions page
CiviContact needs to know the URL of the CiviCRM site. So make sure the CiviCRM base URL is defined in the civicrm.settings.php. If this is not set or incorrect, then CiviContact authentication will fail.
There have been reports of CiviContact Settings page not saving and instead displaying the following error: 'county' is not a valid option for field field_name
Depending on the localisation of your CiviCRM, this field may be displayed in CiviCRM as either: County, Shire or some other name in your selected locale. For simplicity, we will refer to this as the County field.
This error occurs when the County field in CiviCRM has been disabled, this field must be enabled for CiviContact to work correctly.
Go to Administer CiviCRM -> Localization -> Address Settings and in the section Address Editing, Address Fields, enable the County option.
If the County field is not enabled then any API requests for the County field will be rejected by the CiviCRM and instead return an error response.
For WordPress websites with CiviCRM installed, please download and apply this patch to CiviCRM: rest-wp.patch
As of 22nd December 2019, there are proposed changes to improve CiviCRM REST API support for WordPress. These changes have not been tested with CiviContact. Use the included rest-wp.patch for now. References PR #160 - Merge REST API wrapper code and WordPress Development roadmap
There are two methods available for authenticating CiviContact with CiviCRM. Note: Both methods require that the authenticating user have a valid user account in the website which is linked to their CiviCRM contact record.
Use this method if your users are familiar with logging into CiviCRM and accessing their own contact record.
- Login to CiviCRM.
- Locate the contact record in CiviCRM linked to your user account. Note: You cannot view the QR code for another contact record.
- Open the tab is added with name CiviContact Authentication. You should see a QR Code image on this page.
- Launch the CiviContact app and click on Scan QR Code on initial screen.
- If prompted, grant permission for CiviContact to access your camera.
- Scan the QR Code.
- CiviContact should then complete the authentication and immediately sync with CiviCRM.
Use this method if you have many users to set up with CiviContact and/or if users are not logging into CiviCRM frequently. Send an email with a special CiviContact authentication URL (token: {civicontact.authUrl}), when clicked on a mobile device this will launch CiviContact and authenticate with CiviCRM.
- The authentication URL will only work on the mobile device and will not work if clicked on from desktop email client.
- The CiviContact authentication link will expire after 24 hours and a new link will be required.
When viewing a CiviCRM contact, in the Actions menu there is a new action available Send CiviContact authentication. When this action is executed an email will be sent immediately to the contact primary email address with the CiviContact authentication URL. You can override the contents of this email located in templates/CRM/Civicontact/email.tpl
A special CiviCRM token is available {civicontact.authUrl} which can be used in Send Email action, Bulk Mailings (newsletters) and Scheduled Reminders. Include the {civicontact.authUrl} in the email to generate a unique CiviContact authentication URL for each recipient of the email.
To configure CiviContact in CiviCRM, navigate to Administer > CiviContact > Settings.
On this page you can configure:
- Enable Global Config: disabled by default. If enabled, this will prevent CiviContact settings being changed locally and instead apply a global configuration to all users.
- Email to Activity: if enabled this option will automatically record activity when the user emails any contact from CiviContact.
- Favourite Tile Click Action: the default action to be executed when a Favourite Contact tile is clicked, actions can be either: Create Email or Create Phone Call. CiviContact will skip the phone or email action if there is no phone or email available for the Contact.
- Contact Activity types: the activity types which are listed in the "Activities" for a Contact.
- Contact Profile: select the CiviCRM Profile to be control which Contact fields should be available in CiviContact.
- Sync Interval: determines how often CiviContact should sync with the CiviCRM site.
- Google Analytics Tracker ID: include a Google Analytics Propery ID if you want to track usage of CiviContact.
- Login checksum live time: determines the expiry time in hours for the one-time CiviContact login URL.
- Reset QR Code: re-generate QR Codes for all users.
- Drop Authentication: immediately invalidate all existing user CiviContact authentication, requiring all users to re-authenticate.
To enable a CiviCRM Group (either Standard Group or Smart Group) to be synced with CiviContact:
- Open Groups page, Contacts > Manage Groups
- Click Settings of the Group to sync with CiviContact.
- Enable the Sync to CiviContact option.
- Click Save to apply the change.
When CiviContact syncs again with CiviCRM, this Group and the Contacts in the Group will be synced. Any changes to the Group in CiviCRM will be reflected in CiviContact automatically.
When the CiviContact API extension is installed, a new CiviCRM Group CiviContact is added. When new Contacts are added in CiviContact, each Contact will be automatically added to this Group in CiviCRM.
Create a CiviCRM Profile to add new fields to CiviContact, rename existing fields, re-order fields and remove fields, enabling you to fully customise the CiviContact user interface without any coding required.
You can also add custom CiviCRM fields to the CiviContact profile to enable your users to view and update information specific to your requirements.
CiviContact supports the following CiviCRM extensions:
Summary Fields make it easier to search for major donors, recent donors, lapsed donors as well as to show a synopsis of a donor’s history.
CiviTeams integration enables you to easily segment your users into virtual teams and precisely control which Contacts and Groups are available in CiviContact. For example, setting up two virtual CiviTeams, CiviTeam A can access Group 1 and Group 2 using CiviContact, CiviTeam B can access Group 3 and Group 4.
CiviContact mobile application and CiviContactAPI was developed by the team at Agileware.
Agileware provide a range of CiviCRM services including:
- CiviCRM migration
- CiviCRM integration
- CiviCRM extension development
- CiviCRM support
- CiviCRM hosting
- CiviCRM remote training services
- And of course, CiviContact development and support
Support your Australian CiviCRM developers, contact Agileware today!
